Sailor Moon: World Rebirth -Part 2, Beyond the Horizon of Time
Episode 14 'The Ball'

Tuxedo Kamen saw many colours. Everywhere. All there was was a swirl of
colours that went on for forever. He struggled to keep conscious. He
transformed from Tuxedo Kamen back to Mamoru.
Colours.
Then white.
Then black.

********

Cal was walking home from work on the market. He had made quite a bit. A
girl named Usagi had bought a whole bunch of his pastries. He had never seen
someone eat so much in so little time. Cal didn't know it but it was three
days after a 'Princess Gaia' had appeared at the palace. Even if Cal had
known he wouldn't have cared. His home was in a row of a bunch of others. He
built it himself with some of his friends with wood from the nearby forest.
After he had just reached the door, a portal suddenly opened to the side of
the door and a man dropped out. He was in about his early twenties in Earth
years and wearing weird clothes. Cal called out to him but he just laid
there. Cal found that he was unconscious so he carried him into his house.
His wife, Anna came into the room. "Oh my, what happened?"

"A portal just opened in front of our house and he fell out. I've never seen
him before. How is he?" Anna had already knelt down beside the man and was
feeling his forehead. Her hand glowed. "Recently he had some serious
injuries but they seem to have healed up. He's unconscious and needs to
sleep for a while. I have no idea when he will wake up. I would try to speed
the process but I can't tell what kind of effect it would have on him."

Cal sighed. Sometimes it was handy to have a wife as a healer's daughter and
sometimes it didn't help a bit. It took two days for the mysterious man to
wake up. And even then he was pretty weak. "Who are you? Where are you
from?" Anna asked him.

"Where am I from? I . . . don't remember. I don't remember much of anything.
Where am I?"

"You're in my home, on the moon. You can't even remember your name?"

"My name?" The man stopped to think. "I don't know. What do you think my
name is?"

"I think you look like an Alex."

"Alex. All right, at least until I get my memory back. What is the year?"

"Year? It is the fifth revolution of the Silver Millennium. You better get
some more rest. You've been through a lot."

"Okay."

It wasn't until two days later that Alex had completely recovered. He
borrowed some of Cal's clothes so that he wouldn't look out of place. He
spent his next few days touring the city and helping Cal in his pastries
shop. Anna brought up the idea one day at dinner. "Hey Alex, tomorrow night
is the annual masked ball at the palace. How would you like to come with Cal
and I."

"Sure, I'd love to."

********

The next evening people flocked to the palace from all over the moon to the
annual masked ball. All of the men wore masks. When everyone started
dancing, Usagi watched as everyone paired off. Princess Serenity got back
from Venus the day before. Usagi watched as even though Serenity and Prince
Endymion had never been introduced they still paired together. Probably
Usagi and maybe Queen Serenity were the only ones who actually knew who
Princess Serenity was dancing with.

Alex watched a girl with long blonde hair and a beige dress watch everyone
pair off. He figured that she didn't have anyone to dance with so he walked
over to her.

********

Usagi watched as a man walked over to where she was. He held out his hand to
offer a dance. He was wearing a mask like Tuxedo Kamen. He led her out on to
the dance floor and they joined hands. After a few minutes of dancing she
inquired, "Mamoru?"

Alex looked up into the eyes of his partner. "Sorry, Alex. You?"

Usagi closed her eyes. For a moment she thought it was him. "Usagi."

"Usagi. That's a wonderful name." Usagi and Alex danced and lost themselves
in each other's eyes. They danced the night away. They danced longer than
anyone else, and when it got close to the end, the only dancers were Usagi
and Alex, and Princess Serenity and Prince Endymion. Both couples danced
flawlessly, completely unaware of the crowd of people around them watching.
Many guests had already left, and many were still there. They didn't stop
dancing until Queen Serenity announced that the ball was over for the night.
Alex wondered who this girl was. She seemed so familiar. They slowed and
took one more look at each other and left without a word, so not to break
the mood. The two girls, Usagi and Serenity walked away, off into the depths
of the palace.

What are you doing? Usagi screamed at herself. You're destined for Mamoru!
But it seemed so right. . .

********

When Alex got home Cal and Anna were fast asleep, so he went to bed. He was
asleep before his head hit the pillow. The next morning Cal and Anna let him
sleep in. When he woke up, only Anna was there. "You were sure late out last
night."

"I don't remember it clearly. It seemed like a dream."

"My friend who stayed there the whole time said that by the end it was only
you and another couple dancing at the end."

"I remember somewhat. Do you know who the girl was. It seemed like I knew
who she was."

"I don't now. She was very pretty. I don't know what her position is. By the
time it reaches me, the recent gossip is usually distorted. But I know who
the other girl was. I think everyone in the kingdom does. She's the queen's
daughter, Princess Serenity."

Where do I know that name? Alex wondered. And Usagi. It seemed like I knew
someone by that name before I forgot everything. And she called me Mamoru,
and that seems so familiar too. "Oh it's so frustrating. I feel like I'm
right on the edge of remembering who I am but I can't grasp it." Alex took a
seat and put his head in his hands.

"Just relax and try to let the memories to come to you."

Mamoru closed his eyes. He remembered searching for a princess. Then an
annoying clumsy girl. She loved him? He remembered they were in an elevator.
And then there was fire. He watched her transform into Sailor Moon, and then
he used a rose and became Tuxedo Kamen. Then it all came back to him. Usagi,
and the sailor senshi, and then the battle, and then following Sailor Moon
through a time portal to who knows where, which turned out to be the .

Alex jumped up and gave Anna a hug. "Thanks. Now I remember everything. My
real name is Mamoru and I'm from Tokyo, Japan." He was hopping about the
room.

"Okay. Settle down. Cal will be home soon and you can tell us all about it."
Anna tried to get Mamoru to sit down but he just got back up again.

"All right. But first I have to go see someone." Before Anna could say
anything Mamoru was out the door.

Mamoru slowed down after he got out of the house. He took a look all around
himself to see what it was like in the Silver Millennium. Before it really
hadn't made much of a difference where he was but now that he had his memory
back he wanted to be able to remember as much of this place as he could. In
the streets there were these car-like vehicles that seemed to float on air
and no one here was in a hurry to get anywhere. He looked up in the sky to
see Earth there. It was incredibly big and filled a large portion of the
sky. It was really beautiful. It wasn't hard to reach the palace since he
had gone to the ball there the evening before. When he reached the palace
gates he was stopped by a guard. "Where do you think you're going?" the
guard asked him.

"Umm, I have an appointment with someone here who is just visiting."

"And who would that be?"

"I, aaa," Mamoru realized that he didn't know who Usagi was posing as in
this time. Definitely not the princess but she must have said she was
someone important otherwise she wouldn't be staying at the palace. "She said
that I could drop by today and she'd be waiting for me inside the palace.
And anyway, don't you usually let commoners into the palace?"

"We did but lately there have been quite a few alien attacks on the palace
and we have to be extra careful. As soon as the senshi get the problem
cleaned up you can come see whoever you're supposed to meet."

Mamoru stopped to think for a sec. As far as he remembered there weren't any
attacks on the Moon Kingdom until the negaverse came. And this was years
before that. "Do you know what the aliens are?"

The guard must have figured that the man wouldn't have asked that question
if he was one of the enemies. "I believe Sailor Earth called them youma."

"Earth?! I didn't think there was any senshi of the Earth!"

"Neither did I; or anyone else until she showed up. The senshi had trouble
defeating the youma and then Sailor Earth showed up and helped them. Now,
every time the youma make an attack on the palace this Sailor Earth shows up
but she disappears before anyone can ask her anything. She uses some kind of
spiral attack or something. Says something like that."

This guard talks too much, Mamoru thought. Given the right circumstances he
could give away all of the palace's secrets. "Well thanks anyway. I'll just
have to wait until you guys get this cleaned up. I'll see you later." Mamoru
turned away.

"Excuse me sir, one more thing."

Mamoru turned back around. "Yes, anything."

"Please don't spread word of the stuff I told you around. I think it would
be better if the townspeople didn't think that anything was wrong. You're
not from around here are you?"

"No. I'm visiting here from Earth. How could you tell?"

"The way you were staring at everything on your way here. It was as if you
had never seen it like that before."

"Yeah, you're right. I've never been here before. Don't worry, I won't tell
anyone." Mamoru waved and walked away from the palace gates. When he was out
of site of them he circled around so he'd come to one of the gate's walls.
He knew that Usagi had to do something with this Sailor Earth. It made sense
that she wouldn't want to become Sailor Moon because it would get many
people's attention so she would need some other way to fight. The attack
fit. He also guessed that the youma came through the portal after them.
Otherwise the senshi wouldn't have needed Usagi's help. There was no way he
was going to get through those gates unless maybe if he took the form of
Prince Endymion but that would bring too many questions. When he reached the
wall he transformed into Tuxedo Kamen. Every so far along the top of the wall
were small crystals. Tuxedo Kamen remembered that they had something to do
with security. He took another look at them only this time he used his
powers to look at them. Now he saw that there was some kind of laser coming
from each of them and they formed some kind of grid. He figured that if one
of them was touched by a person that the guards would be alerted so he used
his agility and jumping ability as Tuxedo Kamen and slipped through one of
the holes.

Tuxedo Kamen hurried across the courtyard and through an open window of the
palace. Thinking quickly he hid in a shadow when a couple of servants walked
by. He somewhat remembered the layout of the palace and made his way to the
guest quarters. He searched all of the rooms and then decided upon which one
was Usagi's. It was the only one that was being occupied by a female. He hid
in the shadows and waited.

It wasn't until a couple of hours later until the young woman he had danced
with the other night came into the room. He heard a voice from outside the
room say, "Don't worry Princess Gaia we'll come get you as soon as we're
done. We can handle it." The young woman crossed the room and looked out the
window. Tuxedo Kamen knew immediately that it was Usagi."

"Not without Sailor Earth you aren't." Usagi said to herself.

"So it's Princess Gaia now, or should I say Sailor Earth."

Usagi froze. That was a man. No one except Queen Serenity knew that she was
posing as Sailor Earth. She slowly turned around and looked across the room.
There standing against a wall was Tuxedo Kamen. "Mamoru!" Usagi cried as she
crossed the room and entered his arms. "I felt that you came after me
through the portal but I had no idea where you were. I thought you had come
for me last night but it turned out to be someone else and I was so sure of
it."

"Usagi, that was me last night. After I came through the portal I lost my
memory and I didn't get it back until today when I got up. I think it was
the dance that brought me around."

Usagi hugged him harder. "I knew it was you but we're going to have to catch
up later because I have to go help the senshi defeat the youma. I think
they're something that came through the portal after us." They separated.
Usagi took another look out the window. "I'll be right back. 'Moon Crisis,
Make up!" Usagi transformed and then she used the Luna pen to change her
looks. "How do I look?"

"Great." Sailor Earth beamed and jumped out the window. "I'm not letting you
hog all of the action. I get a new suit too." Tuxedo Kamen threw a rose which
spun around himself from top to bottom, changing his suit. His hat
disappeared and a green bandana appeared on his forehead with the symbol of
Earth in the middle. He also got green boots and green shin guards. His
pants turned blue and he was wearing a blue tunic. He had a green belt and
green gloves that just passed his wrists. He kept the white mask over his
eyes, and they got a stripe of green on each side. He also jumped out the
window.

The senshi knew that they couldn't defeat the youma so they just delayed
them until Sailor Earth showed up. This time the youma were more powerful
and Sailor Earth had to wait for them to be weakened first. "Moon SPIRAL
HEART ATTACK!" Sailor Earth dusted two when another came up behind her and
knocked her down before she realized it. It picked her up and threw her
against a wall. She fell to the ground and her vision blurred.

"Sailor Earth!" Sailor Mars called but was too preoccupied to help. Just
when it seemed Sailor Earth was going to get blasted a figure jumped down
and picked Sailor Earth up and took off just before the youma blasted her.
Sailor Earth found herself in the arms of a changed Tuxedo Kamen. They landed
much out of the way out of the blast.

"You've changed!"

"You had an outfit change so it seemed only fitting that I did too." Tuxedo
Kamen brought out a crystal rose and threw it at the youma. The rose embedded
itself in the youma's chest and then it burst into dust. He threw regular
roses into the other's to weaken them. "Finish off the job Sailor Mo-earth."

"You got it. Moon SPIRAL HEART ATTACK!" Sailor Earth took care of the
remaining youma. Like she usually did, she jumped into the air and
transported away. Just before she disappeared Tuxedo Kamen grabbed on to her
boot and was transported away with her. They reappeared in Usagi's room.
"Look's like you've also learned some more tricks."

"Same with you. You could never transport away like that before."

"I know. It seems that just being back here has made me stronger." Usagi and
Tuxedo Kamen continued to tell each other about their stay and the people
they met. She told him about her conversation with Queen Serenity and he
told her about Cal and Anna.

"Talking about Cal and Anna, Cal should be getting off work right about now.
I have to go eat with them and answer their questions."

"Are you going to come stay with me here in the palace."

Tuxedo Kamen gave Usagi a kiss on the forehead. "Of course. When it gets dark
I'll meet you at the palace gates. Last time the guard wouldn't let me in
because you weren't there."

"I'll be waiting for you." Tuxedo Kamen jumped out the window to Usagi's room
and Sailor Earth changed back to Usagi. Tuxedo Kamen easily made it back
transformed and was home in time for dinner. He sat down and Anna served
dinner.

"So, Mamoru is it? Are you going to tell us all about yourself?"

"Well, what I can. You see, I'm from the future. I followed my friend here
through a time portal that Sailor Pluto sent her through. Unfortunately,
because of the battle we were fighting and then the time travel my memory
got screwed up. Right now my friend is at the palace and she's posing as an
ambassador from Earth. I believe she's the one who bought a whole bunch of
your pastries the day that I arrived here."

"She has quite an appetite on herself, and that's quite a story."

"Yes well, we were destined for each other." Mamoru went on to tell Cal and
Anna a little bit about himself and what he did. He also did his best to persuade them
that he was telling the truth. "I'm going to go stay with
her now but I'd like to thank you for everything you've done for me."

"It was our pleasure. Just make sure you come say goodbye before you leave
and introduce us to your friend."

"Thanks."

When Mamoru left Cal and Anna's house he was walking on air. When he reached
the palace gate it was dark. "Who goes there?" the palace guard called out
to him when he got close.

"Don't worry. It's just me again."

"I already told you I can't let you in to the palace."

"Yeah, but this time I'm being expected." Mamoru waited a few minutes and
then Usagi came running out of the palace.

"Sorry I'm late Mamoru but dessert was soooo good and I just had to have a
second helping. Don't worry Ron, you can let him in. He's with me."

Ron looked at the two of them. "Okay. Here you go Mamoru. You have quite a
woman here." Usagi grinned and led Mamoru into the palace. Queen Serenity
met Usagi and Mamoru in the main hall.

"Welcome to the Moon Palace Mamoru. It seems you have another friend here
from your time Usagi. She's waiting for you in your room. I have a room set
up for Mamoru next to yours."

"Thank you your majesty," Mamoru quickly said as Usagi, still holding on to
him pulled him through the hall to the stairs. Usagi was curious and anxious
to see who had also come through the time portal. She opened the door to
find no one there. None of her friends. Usagi took a look around the room
looking for one of the other senshi.

"You really shouldn't jump to conclusions Usagi," a voice said. Usagi looked
down on her bed to find Luna there.

"Luna! You came after me." Luna jumped into her arms.

"Yes, and it seems that you two have made quite a mess here in the short
time you've been here, eh Sailor Earth."

"Well I couldn't become Sailor Moon and something followed us through the
time portal that the senshi of this time couldn't handle so I had to
improvise."

"I know, I know. Both of you have managed well. We'll discuss what we're
going to do in the morning. I've had a long day and I want to get some
sleep."

"Here too," Mamoru said. Usagi put her arms around her. "Good night, my
princess," he said as they kissed and then he left.

"Good night Luna."

"Good night Usagi," Luna said as Usagi silently left the room for a bedtime
snack. She ran into Serenity on the way to the kitchen who was on the same
mission and the two of them carried on. (Fortunately she was able to dodge
Serenity right before they hit. (If the two of them were to touch, it would
be a disaster))

When Usagi returned to her room she was moaning and woke Luna up.
"Ohhhhhhhhaaaooowwww."

"What's wrong Usagi! Is there a problem? A youma attack?"

"I think I ate too much," Usagi replied as she changed and got into bed.
Luna stuck her head underneath a pillow.

**********
Next up, Luna's Tale!